Articles

President's weekly report — September 19, 2014

September 20, 2014 | By ROB RIVETT

Contract rights — adverse New Mexico decision The New Mexico Supreme Court issued this adverse decision in First Baptist Church of Roswell v. Yates Petroleum.  Here, the church entered into a standard contract with Yates, which specified that until the church provided proof of ownership, no interest would accrue on the royalties.  The churc ...

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Service withdraws proposed beetle listing

September 18, 2014 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Earlier this week, the Fish & Wildlife Service officially withdrew its 2012 proposal to delist the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle.  That proposal was the direct result of a petition and two lawsuits filed by PLF attorneys on behalf of a coalition of property owners, levee districts, and farming organizations who strongly object to the signi ...

Articles

Wall Street Journal explains the Endangered Species Act's continuing threat to California water

July 22, 2013 | By JONATHAN WOOD

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal explains the problem that the Endangered Species Act poses for providing water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the valley and southern California. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation this spring cut water deliveries to farmers and the two-thirds of Californians who live south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin ...

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Endangered species regulation and pretext

May 31, 2013 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Pacific Legal Foundation successfully sued the Fish and Wildlife Service last year to force the agency to act on a petition to delist the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle, which has been protected as a threatened species since 1980 but which, since at least 2006, has been deemed to have recovered.  In October of last year, … ...

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Beetle delisting comment period extended

January 24, 2013 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Last year, a Pacific Legal Foundation lawsuit led to a long overdue proposal from the Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the Valley elderberry longhorn beetle from the Endangered Species Act.  Yesterday, the Service announced that it was extending the comment period on the proposed delisting for 30 days.  Also, the Service noted that the … ...

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Progress on the beetle's delisting

October 04, 2012 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

We’ve had good coverage this week on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to propose for delisting the Valley elderberry longhorn beetle, as a direct result of two successful lawsuits that PLF filed on behalf of injured landowners and local government agencies.  You can read more about it the Sacramento Bee, the Sacramento Business ...

Articles

Service proposes to delist Valley elderberry longhorn beetle

October 01, 2012 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

In a long overdue and welcome development, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has finally proposed to delist the beetle from the Endangered Species Act.  This finding is a direct result of the lawsuit that PLF filed on behalf of landowners, farm bureaus, and flood districts in the Sacramento Valley who have been burdened for … ...

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From the desk of the President : PLF’s weekly litigation roundup

June 15, 2012 | By ROB RIVETT

It’s been a busy week here at PLF! Here’s a quick highlight of this week’s developments: Property Rights – California Coastal Commission We had this unpublished victory this week in Bay Island Club v. California Coastal Commission.  Members of the Bay Island Club own homes on a small island off Newport Beach.  A  1927 deed & ...

Articles

Blunt truth about the elderberry beetle and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

March 15, 2012 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

In response to PLF’s recent lawsuit over the feds’ failure to respond our elderberry beetle delisting petition, Nossaman’s Paul Weiland offers this remark: The fact that the Service recommended delisting in 2006, and two lawsuits and six years later the species remains listed, suggests that the federal government is failing to pro ...